Karel Vejmelka interview - "Coming out is still taboo in ice hockey."
Three weeks ago, Karel Vejmelka - the number one goalie of the Arizona Coyotes - did an interview in Czech and I thought that some of the stuff he said there was interesting or funny enough to deserve to be translated and put out on here:
How popular is ice hockey in Arizona? Is it the sport number one there?
Oh, absolutely not. Not many people come to the games, it's like the fifth or sixth most popular sport there. The first is of course baseball, American football, basketball... No one really wants to come to an ice rink. Unfortunately, hockey hasn't found its place there. People have a different mentality. ...In every sport in the US, you see fans who are binge-eating hotdogs, fries and not really watching the game. Sports are a show for them, people go there to have fun not to watch the sport itself. It is actually funny to watch them sometimes when I am not just playing, look into the stands and see what they are doing there, you know, pizza falling under their legs and so on. After the game it is always an absolute mess in the stands.
What about some entry rituals when you come there (to Arizona) as the new guy, do you have to do something, some task or challenge?
We had karaoke there, you had to pick a song to sing and it was funny because we were just going from the teambuilding in a coach and I had to go to the front of it where the microphone was and sing a song. I chose Sweet Caroline and said to myself that it is the smallest evil. But the boys helped me, they sang along, though I still had to suffer through it.
Do you pay some fines, for late arrivals, first zero in the net?
Yes, we do. We have a price list for the different fines. I paid 1000 dollars for the first zero, that was the biggest so far. I told them back then that they should be the one paying me for catching all the shots. It accumulates over time for the big end-of-the-season dinner.
You have been in the net several times when the team played against Connor McDavid (Edmonton), is he for you as a goalie something unique?
He is unique in a way that you can't guess what he's gonna do. In the case of some other players, I more or less assume where are they going to shoot or skate, but in Connor's case, you can't guess anything because he is so fast and has such skilled hands that he always does something different. He is on a completely different level than everyone else.
Can you smoke as players, do chewing tobacco, that's popular among the players, no?
You shouldn't be smoking. Tobacco is like a substitute for that, personally, I don't do it, but most of the other guys do. We have a lot of doping tests throughout the season, this year we had one already during pre-season. In the beginning, we go together as a team and during the season, they can randomly choose like ten guys. I have been chosen like that as well quite a few times actually.
I am not sure whether you have noticed it, but a few months back a lot of people were discussing the coming out of the soccer player Jakub Jankto, it was a huge thing cause no other player on the national team has ever done so. I have never noticed this happening in hockey, is it still taboo to announce that you are a homosexual because it is this sort of masculine sport?
I think so. Not everyone can realize and admit it even within themselves, let alone publically announce it like this. He (Jakub Jankto) is amazing that he had done so, I believe it must have helped him a ton. I personally have a positive attitude towards this, why shouldn't one come out, why should they hide when sooner or later it (the truth) will surface anyway? ... However, there are those "funny remarks" when someone is for example shaving their legs, we do joke about that in the locker room.
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